


your heart is all i own

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Wedding Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 11:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13339977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: “I don’t want you to be a Jones.” he says, quiet and resigned. But then his head jerks up, almost instantly, and she watches him realize exactly how that sounded. “I want to marry you! That’s not what I meant. I meant I don’t want you to be a Jones.”Jughead and Betty talk about names and family legacies.





	your heart is all i own

Jughead was being decidedly weird, and with The Date creeping up on them quickly, it made Betty nervous. Really, really nervous. Almost nervous enough to slip back into old habits. But instead she slips her sweater sleeves down over her palms and walks softly into the small office she and Jughead share. 

“Juggie?” she asks, walking closer to him. He’s slumped in his desk chair, beanie off, one hand caught in his hair, and he’s staring at the paperwork they need to fill out for their marriage certificate. Betty feels panic rise in her chest and swallows hard. He wants to marry her. She knows he wants to marry her, she trusts that. She isn’t afraid he’s getting cold feet because of her. She’s afraid maybe he’s getting them because of him. That maybe he’s back sliding into thinking he isn’t good enough, that she deserves ‘more’, whatever that means. Frowning, she leans over him, sliding her arms around his shoulders. He startles slightly, and then looks up at her guiltily. 

“Hey Betts.” he ruffles his hair, sighing, clearly exasperated with something. 

“What’s wrong, Jug?” she murmurs, voice soft and careful, before she presses her face against her favorite part of his neck, the junction of soft skin where it meets his shoulder and he always smells like skin and laundry soap. 

“I don’t want you to be a Jones.” he says, quiet and resigned. But then his head jerks up, almost instantly, and she watches him realize exactly how that sounded. “I want to marry you! That’s not what I meant. I meant I don’t want you to be a Jones.” he emphasizes his last name, pulling her arms so she walks out in front of him, and perches on his knees. “Why would I want that for you? I love you. You’re my favorite person. Why would I want to make you a Jones? I don’t even want to be a Jones! I feel like I’d be willfully cursing one of the only good things to ever happen to me.” he looks at her, eyes pleading, and the realization dawns on Betty all at once.

“This is about your last name.” she breathes a sigh of relief, and leans forward, resting her forehead against his. “I was afraid you were going down one of your weird spirals where you decide I’m too good for you.” 

“You are, but that’s beside the point. Being a Jones has almost ruined my life on multiple occasions, dragging you into that just feels wrong. It feels like asking for trouble. And I like to think we’ve both had enough of that.” he reaches out, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. She nods her head against his shoulder, slipping into his lap.

“I understand, but it’s not like being a Cooper did me a whole lot of good. My parents aren’t even invited to our wedding, Juggie. The only family either of us invited are our siblings. And Archie and V’s families, but that’s not what either of us are talking about right now. Besides I… I like the idea of us sharing a name. You know me, Jug, I’m as independent as they come, but I’m old fashioned sometimes.”

“I know.” Jughead sighs again, and buries his nose in Betty’s hair. She rubs her hands along his spine. 

“And I don’t exactly like the idea of you taking my last name. I wouldn’t wish being a Cooper on my worst enemy, let alone the love of my life. Even if how pissed it would make my mother would be really, really funny.” Betty smiles, and Jughead snorts at that. “We could hyphenate?”

“I feel like we’d just be increasing the evil.” Jughead replies with a dry laugh. Betty rolls her eyes. “Also, Cooper-Jones sounds like an investment firm, the shitty kind that hires people like Hiram Lodge to ruin its employees lives.” 

“You’re very dramatic today, Jug.” 

“I’m dramatic every day, Betts.” he answers, perfectly deadpan. It’s Betty’s turn to snort, and she shakes her head. 

“Okay… Okay so I don’t want you to be a Cooper, and you don’t want me to be a Jones, and hyphenating is out so… So why don’t we just pick a new last name? Something that’s ours.” 

“Can you even do that?” Jughead wonders outloud, pulling his phone out from under an open book to google it. 

“I don’t see why not. Names are just words, Jug.” 

“Yes, but you and I know better than most how important and powerful words can be, Betty.” 

“Exactly!” she says, brightening suddenly, sitting up straighter. “When you’re working on a draft, and you don’t like how something sounds, or what something means, you change the way you say it. You change the words. Change the words, change the story.” Betty grins at him, and watches his face as he warms to the idea and breaks out into a smile, putting a warm hand on either side of her face. 

“You always were the smart one.” 

“Hush, Juggie. We’re both the smart one, that’s why we like each other so much.” she winks, and he laughs, and then she’s turning to drape her arms over his shoulders and scroll her phone while he uses the laptop so they can both research names. 

“Hawkins.” Jughead says suddenly, and Betty leans back to look at him. “We should change it to Hawkins.”

“Like… Danny Hawkins? In Moonrise?”Betty tilts her head, smiling slightly, rolling the names around in her mind. Jughead and Betty Hawkins. 

“Exactly.” Jughead grinned, moving his hands back to Betty’s waist. The noir film was a shared favorite of theirs, and they’d watched it on their first real date. Steeped with hope and redemption absent from most classic noir, and dealing heavily with defying the family legacy, it had always struck a chord with both of them. 

“I love it.” she said honestly, smiling at him before leaning up and in to plant a kiss on his lips. “And I love you, Jughead Hawkins.”

“I love you, Betty Hawkins.” he whispered, and pulled her closer, and pressing a deeper kiss to her lips, and a handful of featherlight ones on her neck and jaw. She giggled, wrapping him in a tight hug and burying her face in his neck and chest.

“We’re getting married.” she whispered into his collarbones with a giggle. 

“Hell yeah we are.” he answered, offering her a smirk before scooping her up and putting his hands under her thighs. She squealed, and wrapped her legs around his waist. Jughead nipped her neck with a playful growl, and carried her from the office to their shared bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> as someone with a complicated relationship with their own legal last name, i really wanted to play with how betty and jughead's family issues could play into how they feel about their names. the whole picking a new one thing is something my own partner has suggested, and i thought it would be really, really sweet with bughead.


End file.
